John Dewey was born on October 20, 1859 in Burlington, Vermont, US to Archibald Dewey and Lucina Artemisia Rich. He was one of four boys and one of his older brothers died in a car accident right before John was born. His mother was a Calvinist and his father was a merchant who eventually left his job to become a Union soldier in the Civil War. Dewey's father had a passion for British literature and taught it to each of his children. When Dewey was only 15 he was enrolled at the University of Vermont. There he studied philosophy and graduated second in his class with a bachelor's degree. He then became a teacher at a seminary in Oil City Pennsylvania but lost the job two years after. During his free time Dewey read many philosophical treatises and discussed them with one of his former teachers. Dewey was so fascinated by philosophy that he decided to go back to school at Johns Hopkins to study more. He received his doctorate in philosophy and psychology from Johns Hopkins and then went to teach at the University of Michigan where he met his wife, Harriet Alice Chipman. During their marriage they had six children and adopted one child. In 1894 Dewey and Harriet started a primary school called the University Elementary School. They made this school to test Dewey's educational theories. Dewey then worked at many other colleges and then was hired as the philosophy professor at Columbia University. Throughout the 1920's Dewey taught his idea of educational reform at schools all over the world. He was intrigued by the educational experiments in the Russian school system and shared what he learned with his colleagues when he returned to the States. His wife died in 1927. He then married another woman named Roberta Grant at the age of 87. He then died on June 1, 1952 of pneumonia.
School of thought/Major Beliefs/Teachings:
Dewey was one of the developers of the philosophy of pragmatism and was one of the main founders of the idea of functioning psychology. Dewey's philosophy is known as instrumentalism or experimentalism. His ideas were greatly focused on the human experience. Dewey rejected the ideas of another philosophy called transcendentalism which stated ideas were the tools for experimenting and therefore trying to improve human experience. Dewey also said that man behaved out of natural habit and when man was faced with change it led mainly to unexpected outcomes. He believed that when man is struggling to understand the change he had to think creatively so he could control his part of the world that was changing. Therefore this made Dewey thought the way which man understood and connected with the world around the man was thinking or thought (source B). He believed greatly in the idea that a new progressive universal education was the key to show people to leave all their habits and think creatively. This then brought a education reform to the world. Dewey believed that education must focus on the students’ interactions with the present. Dewey didn't dismiss the value of learning about the past but emphasized learning about the present more. Both Dewey and his first wife, Harriet, believed that education should be based on the principle of learning through doing.(make this a source (B)). He mainly discussed the role of public education in a democracy and the main method for succeeding in the goal of having a quality education. Although Dewey is known for his publications about education, he also wrote about nature, art, democracy, ethics, and logic.
Throughout his entire life he wrote and published 1,000 pieces of writings. His writings were a broad range of topics: psychology, philosophy, educational theory, culture, religion and politics. Some of the writings are: "Democracy and Education" which addresses the challenge of providing quality public education in a democratic society. "Psychology" and "Leibniz's New Essays Concerning the Human Understanding" these works expressed Hegelian idealism, something to which Dewey greatly
believed in. "Experience and Education" was also another one of his writings dealing with his ideas for the education reforms.
Influenced by/Legacy:
Dewey was influenced by philosopher and psychologist William James. He was also influenced by pragmatism, which he called instrumentalism.
He was also influenced by a man named Charles Sanders Peirce. Charles was the founder of pragmatism. Because of Dewey we now have a new view on education and how to use his version of education to become successful.
BIOGRAPHY:
John Dewey was born on October 20, 1859 in Burlington, Vermont, US to Archibald Dewey and Lucina Artemisia Rich. He was one of four boys and
School of thought/Major Beliefs/Teachings:
Dewey was one of the developers of the philosophy of pragmatism and was one of the main founders of the idea of functioning psychology. Dewey's philosophy is known as instrumentalism or experimentalism. His ideas were greatly focused on the human experience. Dewey rejected the ideas of another philosophy called transcendentalism which stated ideas were the tools for experimenting and therefore trying to improve human experience. Dewey also said that man behaved out of natural habit and when man was faced with change it led mainly to unexpected outcomes. He believed that when man is struggling to understand the change he had to think creatively so he could control his part of the world that was changing. Therefore this made Dewey thought the way which man understood and connected with the world around the man was thinking or thought (source B). He believed greatly in the idea that a new progressive universal education was the key to show people to leave all their habits and think creatively. This then brought a education reform to the world. Dewey believed that education must focus on the students’ interactions with the present. Dewey didn't dismiss the value of learning about the past but emphasized learning about the present more. Both Dewey and his first wife, Harriet, believed that education should be based on the principle of learning through doing.(make this a source (B)). He mainly discussed the role of public education in a democracy and the main method for succeeding in the goal of having a quality education. Although Dewey is known for his publications about education, he also wrote about nature, art, democracy, ethics, and logic.Video:
https://youtu.be/SGjSMqwlP3E
Major Writings:
Throughout his entire life he wrote and published 1,000 pieces of writings. His writings were a broad range of topics: psychology, philosophy, educational theory, culture, religion and politics. Some of the writings are: "Democracy and Education" which addresses the challenge of providingbelieved in. "Experience and Education" was also another one of his writings dealing with his ideas for the education reforms.
Influenced by/Legacy:
Dewey was influenced by philosopher and psychologist William James. He was also influenced by pragmatism, which he called instrumentalism.He was also influenced by a man named Charles Sanders Peirce. Charles was the founder of pragmatism. Because of Dewey we now have a new view on education and how to use his version of education to become successful.
Further reading:
https://www.britannica.com/topic/education/Education-in-the-20th-century#ref47645Videos:
https://youtu.be/ZmoWBVIoRWI
https://youtu.be/wMh1LYuZ3B4
Sources:
https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Deweyhttp://www.iep.utm.edu/dewey/
https://www.biography.com/people/john-dewey-9273497